A Very Upset God with Scary Sisters
by pomgrant
Summary: A short story response to Gabriel García Márquez's "The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings". Thanatos returns home after the trauma the mortals put him through. Once he has returned, Thanatos is greeted by his brother Hypnos and shortly after that, his hot-headed sisters the Keres.


**A Very Upset God with Scary Sisters**

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

_I chose to write a short story in response to Gabriel __García Márquez__'s "The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings". In my short story response I incorporate Greek mythology. The depictions of characters might not be 100% accurate. _

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><p>As Thanatos' wings began to pick up with the gentle breeze, he looked back at the mortal woman watching him from her window. How grave a mistake this had been, he thought despairingly. Thanatos had intended to see for himself if the old rumors being spoken around the Underworld were true: that people no longer believed in the Gods and Goddesses. He felt bitter towards the mortals for how disrespectfully he had been treated, left for months in a dirty coop, eating eggplant mush, with no way to heal his wings from the ravaging storm that had placed him in their midst. It had been a mistake, yes, to come in mortal form. Perhaps if he had shown the humans his true form they might have treated him with the dignity that the God of Death deserved.<p>

Thanatos, considered a daemon by many because of his natural form, was gentle compared to his sisters, the Keres. He did not wish death upon the mortals; he felt sorrow in anticipation for what havoc his sisters were about to wreak upon their new fortune.

Upon reaching the Underworld realm, he was greeted by his brother, Hypnos. He looked remorseful, but relieved, as Thanatos made his landing.

"I'm sorry, brother, for what you had to endure," Hypnos said. "You know I would have been there in a moment's notice were I allowed into the mortal realm." Thanatos smiled for the first time in months as he remembered the incident long ago in which Hypnos had accidentally put the entire mortal realm into a deep slumber.

"Do not worry for me, dear brother. I am quite well now that I am back home. I worry only for the souls of those poor mortals, so blinded by their greed," he sighed, thinking of the simple-minded woman watching him as he departed, probably feeling such relief to be rid him. "They do not know of the devastation that awaits them."

As if being summoned, their sisters began to approach them. The brothers did not fear the dark female daemons who would always have a craving for human bloodshed, but they did make a point to give them space when possible; the women shared a diminutive temper.

"Have fun on your travels, brother?" they said, in unison as always, with lips smirking so tightly Thanatos thought they might crack.

"No thanks to you," Thanatos quipped back.

"I never thought I'd see the day where the God of Death let a pack of mortals lock him in a coop like livestock," they spat with a dark chuckle. "You are a disgrace to the Gods."

"You have not done much more for our kind, causing destruction wherever you go. Do we even have the right to call ourselves Gods anymore, after being banished to this wasteland for so long?" Taking a breath, Thanatos continued calmly, "My goal in visiting their realm was not to induce fear, but simply to see how they have been faring without our involvement. They put more faith into their fortunes and belongings than they do in us now. We are all at fault for that."

The sisters did not take well to his last statement. Thanatos could see their wings beginning to twitch, and their pupils had been replaced with black slits that were impossibly thin. Stepping towards Thanatos, they took a finger and ran it sharply down one side of his face. He jumped backwards at the searing pain that rippled through his entire body in its wake. The sisters laughed shrilly.

"We'll see how well they fare after we're through," they shrieked, unfolding their wings violently. Before Thanatos or Hypnos could even make a movement, they were soaring swiftly into the sky.

"Oh dear," said Hypnos gently. "Zeus will not be pleased to hear about this. Surely he will stop them before they cause too much pain."

Thanatos sighed in frustration and defeat. "You know as well as I that the Keres will find any reason to create mayhem and destruction among the mortals; once they have a purpose they will not back down, my brother." Shaking his head, Thanatos did not believe what he was about to say, since it contradicted why he was the beloved bringer of death. "Let them do as they please. You did not experience what I have, nor do I wish that upon you, but the mortals have strayed too far this time. If our sisters wish to castigate them, so be it."

Hypnos gasped, shocked that his gentle brother would allow the Keres to carry out their plans, let alone condone them. He took a long glance at Thanatos and realized that he barely looked recognizable; he immediately felt the guilt well up inside of his being again. Hypnos gently laid his hand on Thanatos' thin shoulder and ushered him towards the villa, silently agreeing to not warn the others of their sisters' planned slaughter against the defenseless mortals.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

_Thank you for reading! I highly recommend _Gabriel __García Márquez__'s "The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings".__


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